This assessment of the potential impact of the laws that prohibit disability-based employment discrimination reviews the logic of civil rights law and its application to disability. The development, structure, and operation of state and federal employment discrimination laws for disability, and the experience with the utilization and enforcement of these laws, are presented. With data from state enforcement agency reports, the pattern of employment discrimination complaints filed under state laws prior to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is analyzed. The data are similar to the early ADA complaint data: a large proportion of complaints came from persons with jobs or who had lost jobs, and less than 50 percent of the complaints resulted in a finding favorable to the complainant. Based on what has been found about the effectiveness of prior civil rights legislation, expectations for the impact of the ADA and potential measures of its success are suggested.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
1. David L. Rose, “Twenty-Five Years Later: Where Do We Stand on Equal Employment Opportunity Law Enforcement?” in Equal Employment Opportunity: Labor Market Discrimination and Public Policy, ed. P. Burstein (Hawthorne, NY: Aldine DeGruyter, 1994), p. 39.
2.
2. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(e) (1994).
3.
3. 401 U.S. 424, 431 (1971).
4.
4. This is discussed for disability in U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Accommodating the Spectrum of Individual Abilities, Clearing-house Publication 81 (Washington, DC: U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1983).
5.
5. 42 U.S.C. § 12111(8).
6.
David A. Larson, “What Disabilities Are Protected Under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973?” ibid., 37(11):752-66 (Nov. 1986).
7.
7. Larson, “What Disabilities Are Protected,” pp. 752-766.
8.
8. John W. Parry, “Executive Summary and Analysis,”Mental and Physical Disability Law Reporter, 20(1):15-18 (Jan.-Feb. 1996).
9.
9. TWA v. Hardison, 432 U.S. 63 (1977).
10.
10. Nancy J. Sedmak and Chrissie Vidas, Primer on Equal Employment Opportunity, 6th ed. (Washington, DC: Bureau of National Affairs, 1994), p. 86.
11.
Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations , Disability Rights Mandates: Federal and State Compliance with Employment Protections and Architectural Barrier Removal, Report A-111 (Washington, DC: Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, 1989).
12.
12. 29 U.S.C. § 706(7)(B) (1982).
13.
Charles D. Goldman , Disability Rights Guide: Practical Solutions to Problems Affecting People with Disabilities, 2d ed. (Lincoln, NE: Media, 1991).
14.
14. 42 U.S.C. § 12114(a) excludes current users of illegal drugs. 42 U.S.C. § 1211(b) excludes an additional list of conditions, among which are transvestism, transsexualism, pedophilia, compulsive gambling, and pyromania.
15.
15. 29 U.S.C. § 793 (1994), known as section 503.
16.
16. 29 U.S.C. § 794 (1994), known as section 504.
17.
17. Goldman, Disability Rights Guide, pp. 168-202.
18.
18. Flaccus, “Handicap Discrimination Legislation,” pp. 261-326.
19.
19. U.S., Congress, House, Committee on Education and Labor, Subcommittee on Select Education and Civil Rights, Oversight Hearing on the Equal Opportunity Commission, serial no. 103-115, 103d Cong., 2d sess., 26 July 1994.
20.
Bureau of National Affairs , “New EEOC Chairman Takes on Task of `Rejuvenating' Agency,”BNAC Communicator, 14(4):20 (Winter 1995).
21.
21. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Technical Assistance Program, “Employer EEO Responsibilities: The Law on Recruitment and Hiring and EEOC Investigative Procedures,” 1995.
22.
22. Ibid., p. D-3.
23.
23. U.S., Congress, House, Committee on Education and Labor, Appendix to a Report on the Investigation of the Civil Rights Enforcement Activities of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, U.S. Department of Labor, committee print, serial 100-P, 100th Cong., 1st sess., 1987, app.
24.
24. Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, Twenty-Five Years of Service (Washington, DC: Department of Labor, 1991).
25.
25. Bureau of National Affairs, “OFCCP Obtained Record Settlements in 1994, Agency Head Says,”BNAC Communicator, 14(4):11 (Winter 1995).
26.
26. Bonnie P. Tucker, “Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act After Ten Years of Enforcement: The Past and Future,”University of Illinois Law Review, 4:845-885 (1989).
27.
27. L. O'Connell, “Investigators at Work: How Bureaucratic and Legal Constraints Influence the Enforcement of Discrimination Law,”Public Administration Review, 51(2):123-130 (1991).
28.
28. Mid-Atlantic ADA Information Center, “ADA Charges Received,”ADA in Action, 2(2):4 (Spring 1996).
29.
29. National Council on Disability, The Americans with Disabilities Act: Ensuring Equal Access to the American Dream (Washington, DC: National Council on Disability, 1995), p. 43.
30.
Jonathan S. Leonard , “The Impact of Affirmative Action Regulation and Equal Employment Law on Black Employment,”Journal of Economic Perspectives, 4(4):47-63 (1990).
31.
31. Burstein and Edwards, “Impact of Employment Discrimination Litigation,” p. 107.
32.
32. P. Siegelman and J. J. Donohue, “Studying the Iceberg from Its Tip: A Comparison of Published and Unpublished Employment Discrimination Cases,”Law & Society Review, 24(5):1133-1170 (1990).
33.
33. John M. McNeil, Americans with Disabilities: 1991-1992, Current Population Reports, P70-33 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1993).
34.
Burstein and Edwards, “Impact of Employment Discrimination Litigation.”
35.
35. Edward H. Yelin and Patricia P. Katz, “Labor Force Trends of Persons with and without Disabilities,”Monthly Labor Review, 117(10):36-42 (1994).
36.
36. McNeil, Americans with Disabilities: 1991-1992, p. 62.
37.
37. National Organization on Disability, N.O.D./Harris Survey of Americans with Disabilities (New York: Louis Harris and Associates, Inc., 1994), p. 15.
38.
38. Ibid., p. 18.
39.
39. W. G. Johnson and M. Baldwin, “The Americans with Disabilities Act: Will It Make a Difference?”Policy Studies Journal, 21(4):775-788 (1993).
40.
40. Ibid., p. 782.
41.
41. N. R. Mudrick, L. Trupin, and M. P. LaPlante, “Patterns of Employment Among People with Work Disabilities” (Paper delivered to the American Public Health Association, San Diego, CA, 1 Nov. 1995).
42.
42. National Organization on Disability, N.O.D./Harris Survey, p. 15.
43.
43. James H. Coil III and Charles M. Rice, “The Tip of the Iceberg: Early Trends in ADA Enforcement,”Employee Relations Law Journal, 19(4):485-506 (Spring 1994).
44.
44. National Council on Disability, Americans with Disabilities Act, p. 43.
45.
45. Parry, “Executive Summary and Analysis,” p. 15.
46.
46. Joseph P. Shapiro, No Pity: People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement (New York: Times Books, 1993).
47.
Peter David Blanck , Communicating the Americans with Disabilities Act: Transcending Compliance: A Case Report on Sears, Roebuck and Co. (Washington, DC: Northwestern University, Annenberg Washington Program in Communications Policy Studies, 1994), p. 12.
